Chantal Desloges is certified by the Law Society of Ontario as a Specialist in both Citizenship/Immigration law and Refugee law. Her practice encompasses every possible area of Canadian citizenship, immigration and refugee law, such as business class applications, skilled workers, family sponsorships, work and study permits, refugee cases, citizenship applications, plus Appeals and Judicial Reviews of refused cases. She was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1999 and is the founding and senior partner of Desloges Law Group.

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In November, 2016, Chantal and her good friend Cathryn Sawicki published the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Law: A Practitioner’s Handbook. Chantal has been called upon 15 times by Parliamentary and Senate Committees to appear as an expert witness on immigration and refugee issues.

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Chantal is a regular immigration commentator on CTV Power Play, and has been interviewed by both national and local television stations such as CBC, CTV National News, W5, Canada AM, Global News and CP24. She has also been interviewed and quoted in national and local newspapers such as the Toronto Star, Toronto Sun, Globe and Mail, National Post and the Ottawa Citizen. 

Stewart Gillis is a Deputy Judge of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice (Small Claims Court). He was Certified as a Specialist in Civil Litigation by the Law Society of Upper Canada on September 7, 2000 and since his Call to the Ontario Bar in March, 1977, he practiced in personal injury law, exclusively. 

He has served as a Director of the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association and  been a lecturer in civil procedure and practice at the Bar Admission Course in Toronto. 

He began his career in Toronto involving himself in insurance defence work including motor vehicle personal injury litigation, medical and hospital malpractice matters, and municipal liability cases. 

In 1986, he relocated to Brampton and established a successful plaintiff personal injury practice ultimately founding Gillis Zago LLP in 2001 and Gillis Injury Law (Stewart Gillis Legal Professional Corporation) in 2010.

In June 2016, he stepped away from day-to-day practice and is following his twin passions for the courtroom and for mentoring up-and-coming lawyers in their trial practice and procedures. 

Phil Cohen is the founder and president of Strategic Element. His company, founded in 2010, provides businesses and immigration practitioners with assistance in the development and writing of business plans, feasibility studies, business plan reviews and economic impact reports.

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Phil is a graduate of the Administrative and Commercial Studies program at the University of Western Ontario.

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Phil has a long history of developing businesses, business concepts and products, dating back to 1993. With a career that began in the manufacturing sector, and later grew to include new developments in technology and market research, Phil has progressively built up experience in the area of new business development with a focus on transforming ideas into viable business models for large public corporations, start-ups and everything in between.

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Beyond the development of business concepts, models and plans, Phil has taken a hands-on role in the launch of several businesses and business initiatives. In so doing, he has faced firsthand the realities and challenges encountered by new businesses. This experience has provided him with the insight and real-life exposure necessary to develop business concepts that work.

Rafael is a Senior Associate Lawyer and Manager in EY Law LLP’s Canada and cross-border North American Free Trade Agreement (CaNAFTA) practice. He advises clients on all aspects of Canadian citizenship and immigration law, with a particular focus on temporary and permanent entries of business personnel into Canada.

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Rafael was called to the Ontario Bar in 2006. He holds his LLB from Osgoode Hall Law School and his BA from the University of Toronto.

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Rafael was the recipient of the Prize in Immigration Law during convocation rites at Osgoode Hall Law School in 2002. In 2008, the Federation of Asian-Canadian Lawyers presented Rafael with its inaugural Lawyer of Distinction award for his legal advocacy for foreign live-in caregivers. In 2009, he was chosen as one of Canadian Immigrant magazine’s “Top 25 Canadian Immigrants”.

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Rafael has spoken to audiences across Canada, and has authored articles and editorials for various Canadian media outlets. He is a regular contact for media inquiries on a variety of immigration-related topics. He has also testified before the House of Commons’ Parliamentary Committee on Citizenship and Immigration in Ottawa on amendments to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations.

Born in Singapore, Stan moved to British Columbia with his family and has called the province home ever since. Stan graduated from Simon Fraser University with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science before graduating from the University of Manitoba with a Juris Doctor. Before joining Lowe & Company as an associate, he articled at a mid-size Vancouver full-service business law firm and then worked briefly at a law firm in the Tri-Cities primarily practicing residential real estate law.  Stan was called to the Bar of British Columbia in 2012.

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Stan has had the opportunity to assist people from all over the world with various Canadian immigration and citizenship matters including work authorizations, study permits, skilled worker immigration including federal and provincial programs, family sponsorships, criminal inadmissibility and citizenship.

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In addition to Stan’s immigration practice, he has taught on immigration matters including but not limited to business work permits such as LMIA applications based on the Owner Operator advertising exemption.

Rebecca represents health and other regulated professionals facing allegations before their professional Colleges’ complaints committees, as well as discipline committees. Rebecca has also successfully represented health professionals at the Health Professions Appeal and Review Board. In addition, Rebecca represents professionals applying to their respective professional Colleges at accreditation and licencing committees. These professionals include Doctors, Pharmacists, Registered Massage Therapists, Physiotherapists, Audiologists, Optometrists, Opticians, Social Workers and more.

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Rebecca also represents health care clinics, as well as individuals subject to investigations involving insurance companies, allegations of benefits fraud, criminal fraud charges, as well as defending civil actions.

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Rebecca completed her Bachelor of Arts with Honours with a major in Criminology at the University of Toronto in 2010 and completed her Juris Doctor at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario in 2013. She completed her articles with Damien Frost and Associates and joined the firm as an associate in 2014. Rebecca became a partner with the firm in 2017.​

Andrew Carvajal is a Toronto lawyer and partner at Desloges Law Group, where he is the Head of Economic Immigration. He received a Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts, Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Civil Law from McGill University. He was called to the Bar of Ontario in 2011.

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Andrew’s immigration practice focuses on permanent residence applications under federal and provincial economic programs, all types of business/corporate immigration, applications for sponsorship under the family class and temporary residence applications. He also represents professionals in disciplinary matters including Immigration Consultants in complaint and discipline proceedings before their regulatory council.

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Besides his work at Desloges Law Group, Andrew has been an instructor in the Immigration Consulting program at Herzing College and a guest speaker in a number of immigration education programs and seminars organized by professional associations and community centres. He is also a frequent contributor to several publications dealing with immigration, refugee and administrative law and has been invited to speak about immigration changes on local and national news segments.

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Adrienne has a full-service legal practice with expertise in litigation and administrative appeals. Her legal experience is concentrated in matters before Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, the Federal Court and the Immigration and Refugee Board.

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She regularly represents clients with all types of permanent and temporary applications to Canada, including medical and criminal inadmissibility issues, sponsorship applications and appeals, refugee claims and appeals, Federal Court applications, humanitarian and compassionate applications,  study and visitor visas, and detention reviews.

 

Adrienne has been invited as an expert to speak on medical inadmissibility before Canada’s House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, which monitor’s federal immigration policies.

 

She is an Instructor with Ryerson’s Faculty of Law and the University of British Columbia’s Continuing Education Program. Adrienne has been invited to speak as a guest lecturer at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law and York University’s Centre for Refugee Studies.

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Antonio is the thought leader behind Workplace Legal. He focuses on improving work climate and empowering business leaders, entrepreneurs, managers, supervisors and human resources professionals to reduce the inherent threats of workplace relations by providing innovative training, advisory, investigations, and litigation services. Antonio uses coaching tools and skills to inform, advice and represent workplaces in their virtual and physical challenges, including business transformation and managing toxic leadership.

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Antonio obtained a Bachelor’s of Civil Law from Zulia’s University in 2003 and completed the Canadian National Committee on Accreditation in 2015. His legal work includes employment standards, human rights, health and safety, pay equity, harassment, discrimination, violence, hazards, privacy, BYOD, agreements, contracts and policies, employment related ADRs (mediation, arbitration), and litigation (wrongful/constructive dismissals). He has successfully represented and assisted clients at the Superior Court of Justice and various administrative tribunals in Ontario.

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Antonio also conducts workplace investigations regarding allegations of violence, harassment, discrimination, accidents/incidents, theft and failure to comply with company policies, by-laws and collective agreements.

Sam is a graduate of the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto. Prior to law school, Sam studied Peace and Conflict Studies at the Trudeau Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Toronto. He is a member of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, the Refugee Lawyers Association, and the Canadian Bar Association.

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Sam has experience in a wide variety of immigration matters, including applications involving inadmissibility matters, humanitarian and compassionate applications, pre-removal risk assessments, family sponsorship applications, temporary resident permits, and applications for work and study permits. Sam has extensive experience with applications for Judicial Review before the Federal Court of Canada, including applications involving constitutional challenges and motions for stays of removal; and has appeared before the Federal Court of Appeal. Sam has appeared before all three Divisions of the Immigration and Refugee Board in various matters including refugee hearings, appeals before the Immigration Appeal Division, and detention reviews.

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Prior to his work at Plett Law Professional Corporation, Sam was a Partner and Head of Litigation at Desloges Law Group.

Cathryn Sawicki, Senior Partner at Serotte Law Canada, is a lawyer in good standing with the Canadian Bar Association (CBA), Ontario Bar Association and a member of the Law Society of Ontario. She completed her law degree at Osgoode Hall and is the co-author of a book called “Canadian Immigration and Refugee Law: A Practitioners Handbook” which is currently in its second edition and distributed by Emond Publishing.

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Cathryn has been designated as a Certified Specialist in Immigration and Citizenship Law by the Law Society of Ontario and has particular expertise in the area of compliance, strategic immigration solutions, and immigration processing.

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With more than 20 years of experience in the area of citizenship and immigration law, Cathryn is able to provide sound advice to multi-national companies, small businesses and individuals. She can assist clients with long-term and short-term immigration solutions. Cathryn has extensive experience and expertise on a variety of aspects ranging from employer compliance, Federal Court matters and global mobility solutions. 

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She has appeared on various radio and television shows as a guest speaker. She has lectured across Canada for various entities, has been interviewed for various newspapers and online articles and has taught immigration law at various colleges and law schools across Canada.

Daniel specializes in criminal, regulatory, and administrative law trials and appeals. As an experienced litigator, Daniel has argued criminal and regulatory cases both on behalf of the crown and defendants. He maintains a diverse practice, from white collar criminal matters to judicial reviews and professional discipline hearings for health care professionals such as Pharmacists, Chiropractors, Nurses, Registered Massage Therapists, Registered Psychotherapists and others. 

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Daniel has written about current criminal and regulatory matters, with legal articles published in the Criminal Reports and RegQuest Reports. Daniel has been a guest lecturer at various law schools in Ontario and, most recently, taught Criminal Law and Procedure at Humber College’s paralegal studies program.

 

Daniel completed his Bachelor of Arts with an Honours Specialization in political science at the University of Western Ontario in 2008. In 2012, he completed his Juris Doctor at the University of Windsor. Daniel is a member of the Friends of Algonquin Park and the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of Canada.